Industry
Systems
Evaluation

The
current
trend
within
the
healthcare
industry
has
been
and
continues
to
be decision
support systems
and
structural
standardization.
Fueled
by
mergers,
alliances,
business "partnerships",
etc.
as
well
as
pressures
placed
on
industry
by
Managed
Care
Organizations
and
other
purchasers
to
produce
accurate
standardized
information
for
comparative
analysis,
healthcare
entities
are
being
forced
to
consider
new
technology
that
not
only
embraces
and
delivers
standard
decision
support
/executive
information
systems
solutions
but
also
provides
these
solutions
in
a
manner
that
remains
completely
consistent
with
the
movement
occurring
in
the
computer
industry
to
provide
open
systems.
No
longer
are
proprietary,
vertically
integrated
systems
an
option.
System
diversity
is
no
longer
acceptable
to
industry
and,
in
fact,
this
diversity
of
systems
problem
is
being
addressed
by
a
myriad
of
systems
integration
products
to
provide
a
cost
effective
migration
path
for
the
healthcare
entity
to
complete
open
systems
with
standardized
data

System
Standardization

Demand
in
the
market
certainly
exists
for
Healthcare Decision
Support
Systems
(Healthcare DSS) and
Executive
Information
Systems
(EIS)
standardization
and,
in
my
opinion,
has
grown
much
more
rapidly
since
1994.
Interface
engines,HL7,
standard
interface
hubs,
open
systems,
data
repositories,
SQL/ODBC/other
standards,
and
Microsoft
compliance
have
become
the
norm
in
industry
system
planning.
Compliance
to
standards
and
open
system
architecture
are
rapidly
becoming
the
necessary
requirement
prior
to
the
consideration
of
any
software
product,
no
matter
what
the
functional
benefit.

Structural Standardization

The company is
perfectly
positioned
to
take
advantage
of
industry's
demand
for
structural standardization.
The
Charge
Master
Standardization
Engine
is
widely
accepted
in
the
healthcare
market,
especially
in
the
proprietary
chains.
Additionally,
a
standard
charge
master
becomes
the
critical
hub
for
the
potential
provision
of
spin-off
Structural
Standardization
Products
(SSP's)
to
address
needs
in
the
areas
of
utilization
management
and
cost
management.
With
a
reference
base
of
200
to
300
healthcare
entities,
The company
has
a
unique
window
of
opportunity
to
introduce
additional
SSP's
into
the
market,
many
of
which
are
fully
developed
or
completely
designed
and
market
tested.
SSP's
include:

Charge
Master
Standardization
Engine

Clinical
Systems
Integrator
Interface
Engine

Labor
Segmentation
Interface

Labor
Segmentation (LS)
-
allows
for
the
standardization
of
a
payroll
system
to
form
homogeneous
labor
segments
ready
for
hierarchical

As
industry
demands
less
products/services
to
support
procedure-level
pricing,
it
is
imperative
that
SSP's
address
the
more
critical
areas
of
cost
and
utilization
management.
If
this
can
be
done,
the company
can
become
a
major
provider
of DSS
and
EIS
solutions
with
a
unique
emphasis
on
structural
standardization.

Executive
Reporting
Matrix

The
healthcare
market
has
and
continues
to
demand
information.
DSS
and
EIS
are
generally
installed
or
being
considered
as
part
of
an
enterprise
system
plan.
Major
systems
vendors
provide
software
tools
to
industry
but
these
systems
are
generally
fragmented,
modular,
multi-vendor,
multi-platform,
and
are
delivered
on
closed
architecture,
i.e.,
system
diversity.
The
vendors
know
it
as
does
industry.
Still
systems
and
modules
are
purchased
and/or
upgraded,
further
increasing
system
diversity.

The company
has
a
unique
window
of
opportunity
to
enter
this
very
competitive
market
with
a
superior
suite
of
products.
Certainly,
the
company
can
offer
system
standardization
utilizing
mainstream
Oracle/Access
open
systems;
however,
the
major
vendors
are
moving
quickly
to open their
systems
in
a
similar
manner.
The
potential
company
edge
is
to
add
the
back-end
Structural
Standardization
Products.
SSPs,
designed
correctly
(with
proper
audit
logic),
from
source
system
through
an
Interface
Engine,
to
the
executive
end
user
utilizing
a
completely
Microsoft/IBM
compliant
open
architecture
Executive
Reporting
Matrix
(ERM)
can
differentiate
the company s
DSS
and
EIS
products
from
competitive
products.
With
ERM,
the
executive
can
have
complete
Windows
workstation
access
to
information
in
an
open
system
and
most
importantly,
can
be
assured
that
the
information
has
been
correctly
standardized
on
the
back-end
by
the
SSPs.
The
Executive
Reporting
Matrix
can
now
be
clearly
differentiated
by
virtue
of
the
back-end
SSPs.

Conclusion

The
company
challenge
will
be
to
focus
on
the
production
of
a
modular
yet
fully
integrated
DSS
and
EIS
that
can
be
introduced
into
diverse
system
environments
(which
may
include
pre-existing
DSS/EIS)
with
minimal
disruption
and
maximum
cost
benefit.
A
strong
foundation
exists
with
the
proven
SSP
back-end:
Charge
Master
Standardization
Engine.
A
well
designed
front-end
exists
with
the
Executive
Reporting
Matrix.

Once
ERM
has
been
installed
in
a
facility
on
a
Windows
workstation,
the
company DSS/EIS look will
remain
compliant
with
Microsoft
and/or
other
industry
standards
as
they
emerge.
User
learning
curve
will
be
near
zero
since
ERM
was
designed
to
be
intuitive
to
the
average
Windows
user.
Interface
Engine
products
will
provide
ERM
with
data
from
diverse
systems,
while
the
SSPs
and
other
back-end
DSS
products
are
designed,
built,
packaged,
and
introduced
to
the
market.
Most
importantly,
each
company
module
or
SSP
will
be
integrated
on
the
back-end
to
provide
more
accurate
data
while
preserving
the
native
look
and
feel
of
the
ERM
end
user
interface.